Mahathir aims to retain post for his 'Vision 2020' plan

Mahathir aims to retain post for his 'Vision 2020' plan

By Bill Tarrant

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuter): Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir
Mohamad once joked at an international business conference in
Kuala Lumpur: "If you can't be famous, at least you can be
notorious."

He had just been asked if his well-publicized spats with major
trading partners like Australia and Britain, and his bashing of
western-style democracy, human rights and trade policies had had
a chilling effect on investment.

In fact, foreign investment has poured into Malaysia over the
past decade -- more than $40 billion worth -- as Mahathir has
turned a plantation-oriented economy into an industrialized
country.

His disdain for diplomatic niceties stand in stark contrast to
the etiquette of deference and reticence among Malays, the
majority community in this multi-racial country.

"I'm brash and abrasive but that's because I've noticed when
people are nice and polite they never get anywhere," he once
said.

Mahathir has boasted at campaign rallies for the general
elections on April 24-25 that the World Bank praises Malaysia as
a model of development, and he appears to delight in western
approval of his policies.

But he bristles at the first hint of criticism.

He took Malaysia to the brink of a trade war with Australia,
after Prime Minister Paul Keating called him "recalcitrant" for
boycotting the first summit of the Asia Pacific Economic
Cooperation (APEC) forum in late 1993.

Soon after that row was patched-up, he launched a seven-month
ban on government contracts for British business in retaliation
against British press reports alleging that Anglo-Malaysian trade
was tainted with corruption.

During the election campaign, Mahathir has promoted his
blueprint for turning Malaysia into a fully-developed country
over the next 25 years -- a plan he calls "Vision 2020".

Its symbol is the Proton Saga, the national car and Mahathir's
brainchild. Launched in 1983, it has become the pride of
Malaysia's 20 million people.

The 69-year-old Mahathir, who underwent heart bypass surgery
in 1989, has shown no sign of retiring.

Some analysts say he wants to stay at the helm at least until
1998, when Malaysia hosts the Commonwealth Games -- the first
Asian nation to do so -- and the APEC summit.

He introduced a "Look East" policy soon after taking office in
1981, trying to emulate Japanese economic development.
Mahathir's forceful -- critics say autocratic -- style has
sometimes spawned tensions within UMNO. In April 1987, he barely
survived a challenge to unseat him at a party convention.

Later that year, Mahathir arrested 100 government critics in a
crackdown he said was aimed at quelling racial tension.

In the current election campaign he has threatened to arrest
Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang for allegedly stoking racial
tensions.

Mahathir took on the country's monarchy in 1993, introducing a
constitutional amendment curbing their powers and stripping them
of their immunity from criminal prosecution. Malaysia's nine
sultans take turns every five years at being a largely ceremonial
king.